A funeral director trying to find a cemetery to take the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is going next to the city where Tsarnaev lived, but will run into another obstacle: It doesn't want him.
Funeral director Peter Stefan said he hasn't been able to find a cemetery in Massachusetts willing to take Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body.
He said he plans to ask the city of Cambridge, where Tsarnaev lived, to provide a burial plot, and if Cambridge turns him down, he will seek help from state officials.
Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said in a statement yesterday there has been no formal application for a burial permit or purchase of a cemetery plot.
But he added that he is urging Tsarnaev's family and the funeral director who has the body not to request a burial permit for the city-owned Cambridge Cemetery.
Healy said the city "would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and wide-spread media presence at such an interment".
Healey said other federal agencies should take the lead in the burial. Stefan did not immediately return a call yesterday seeking comment on Healy's statement.
Meanwhile, the uncle of the two suspects, Ruslan Tsarni, arrived yesterday with three of his friends and prepared to wash and shroud his nephew's body according to Muslim tradition. The 26-year-old died after a gun battle with police on April 19.
Tsarni, of Maryland, said he understands that "no one wants to associate their names with such evil events".
Tsarni told reporters that he is arranging for Tsarnaev's burial because religion and tradition call for his nephew to be buried. He would like him buried in Massachusetts because he's lived in the state for the last decade, he said.
Tsarnaev died days after the April 15 bombing at the marathon finish line, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. His 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, was captured.
